Summit League play starts at IUPUI

South Dakota State’s season-long five game road trip got cut to four games after winter weather forced the Jackrabbits and Buffalo to indefinitely postponed the game scheduled for Jan. 3, in Buffalo.

The postponement ends the Jacks non-conference season a game early and cuts the road swing to four games, which means the road trip ends with the beginning of Summit League play this week, with games at IUPUI on Thursday and at Fort Wayne on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. ET.

The Jacks league play riding a season-long four game winning streak, which includes their first two road wins of the season after a 77-70 win at North Dakota on Dec. 21, and a 65-60 win at Kansas City on Dec. 28. The wins also put the Jacks over .500 for the season with an 8-7 overall record.

NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS – SDSU takes on Fort Wayne on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, then returns home to host Omaha on Thursday, Jan 16 at 7 p.m., and Western Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m.

SDSU QUICK HITS

• The win at UMKC boosted SDSU’s record to 4-1 on the season when Jake Bittle starts the game

• SDSU won its last two road games after starting the season 0-6 in games played away from home

• The Jacks enter the game riding a season-long four game winning streak

• SDSU owns a 3-3 mark in Summit League openers, including a 1-1 record against IUPUI.

• Brayden Carlson scored at least 20 points in three of the last four games, averaging 19.5 ppg over that span

• Carlson and Cody Larson are the only two Jackrabbits to score in double figures in each of the last four games

• SDSU posted eight individual double-doubles in the first 11 games, but none in the last four games

TRACKING THE JACKRABBITS

RABBITS ON THE RADIO – Originated from the AM 570 WNAX studios in Yankton, S.D., every SDSU men’s basketball games can be heard live on a total of nine stations on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.

Pierre, S.D., native, and 2012 South Dakota Sportscaster of the Year, Tyler Merriam returns for his third season as the voice of Jackrabbit men’s basketball. He also serves as the voice of Jackrabbit football and baseball.

JACKS DOUBLE UP – After posting a single double-double in each of his first two seasons, Jordan Dykstra posted double-doubles in a team-high nine games as a junior in 2012-13. He posted five double-doubles in 11 games this season pushing his all-time total to 16. Cody Larson posted his first career double-double vs. Southwest Minnesota State on Nov. 18, added a second vs. Howard on Nov. 25 and a third on Dec. 4 vs. Dakota State.

FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES – Five Jackrabbits scored at least 10 points in the Jacks win over Southwest Minnesota State on both Nov. 18, marking the first time that’s happened since Feb. 2, 2013, when five did so at Kansas City. Five players scored at least 10 points again on Dec. 14 in the Jacks 85-72 win over Belmont.

HEATING UP – The Jackrabbits shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the floor on 27 of 47 shooting in a win over Belmont on Dec. 14, only to top that mark by going 27 of 45, 60 percent in a win over Wayne State on Nov. 18. As a team, the Jacks shot above 50 percent from the floor two other times this season; 52.5 percent against Southwest Minnesota State on Nov. 18 and 56.4 percent against Dakota State on Dec. 4. SDSU won all four of those games.

ON THE RECORD

DYKSTRA CLIMBING ALL-TIME SCORING LIST – Senior Jordan Dykstra became the 43rd member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club in the Jacks win over South Dakota on Jan. 31, and immediately started to climb the scoring charts. He entered the 2013-14 season ranked 23rd all-time at SDSU with 1,149 points, but already moved up to 13th all-time with 1,375 points in his career. He needs 11 more points to crack the top-10.

DYKSTRA CRACKS TOP-10 IN CAREER 3-POINTERS – Dykstra opened the season with 142 career 3-pointers, five shy of cracking the all-time top-10 at SDSU, which he did at Texas Tech on Nov. 21. He enters Friday’s game with 166, good for sixth all-time at SDSU.

WHITE HITS 1,000-POINT MILESTONE – Senior Chad White came up 53 points shy of becoming the 44th member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club last year, but hit the mark at Texas Tech on Nov. 21. He continues his climb up the list, and enters tonight’s game ranked 33rd all-time with 1,078 points, but needs just 21 points to move up six spots on the list.

WHITE CLIMBS CAREER 3-POINT FG CHARTS – Chad White entered the 2013-14 season with 169 career 3-point field goals, good for fifth all-time at SDSU. He needs two more triples to move into fourth place all-time.

CARLSON EYES 1,000-POINT CLUB – Senior Brayden Carlson scored just 85 points as a freshman, but scored 254 as a sophomore and 317 as a junior, giving him 656 entering his senior season, he now needs 135 points to reach the 1,000 point milestone, or nine points per game for the rest of the season.

GOOD FOR THREE! – Three of the top-10 three-point shooters in SDSU history, based on 3-point field goal percentage, currently play for the Jackrabbits. Jordan Dykstra leads the way with .455 percent, Chad White ranks fourth with a .417 mark from deep, while Brayden Carlson enters the game ranked seventh all-time with a .402 career mark from long range.

TONIGHT’S OPPONENT

IUPUI JAGUARS (5-12, 0-0 SUMMIT, 4-4 HOME) – A year after an injury-riddled Jaguar squad finished last in The Summit League standings with a 1-15 record in league play, IUPUI entered the current season picked to finish on the bottom of the standings in the preseason poll.

The Jaguars snapped a season-long five game losing streak with a convincing win over Judson College in their last outing, and did put together a three game winning streak earlier in the season with wins at Bradley and at home against North Carolina Central and Cincinnati Christian.

THE SERIES vs. IUPUI – The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series 8-6, with wins in each of the last seven meetings, including a season sweep and a win in The Summit League Championships in each of the past two seasons.

Tonight’s game also marks the third time the Jacks and Jags met in a Summit League opener. IUPUI won the first opener 79-57 on Dec. 3, 2009, while the Jacks prevailed 97-93 in overtime on Dec. 1, 2011.

THE LAST MEETING: March 9, 2013, Sioux Falls Arena – SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Top-seeded South Dakota State advanced The Summit League Championship Semifinals on Saturday with a quarterfinal win over No. 8 seed IUPUI, using a pair of runs, a 20-point night from Summit League Player of the Year Nate Wolters and a double-double from Tony Fiegen to secure a 66-49 win.

SDSU fell into an early 7-3 hole, but responded with a 15-0 run that put the Jacks up for good at 18-7 with 10:42 left in the first half.

Despite the run, and despite never trailing again, the Jaguars did not go quietly, and cut the lead to just four points at 31-27 at halftime.

Following the break, the Jags came out in the second half and cut the lead to as few as two points at 33-31 with 17:34 to play and to three points roughly two minutes later before the Jacks answered with a 10-2 run that turned a 41-37 lead into a 53-39 advantage with 8:37 on the clock.

IUPUI snapped the run with just over eight minutes remaining, but would get no closer than 12 points for the remainder of the game.

Wolters’ 20 points lead all players in the game, adding three rebounds and four assists. Both Fiegen and Jordan Dykstra finished with 15 points in the win. Fiegen added a trio of assists and 10 rebounds to complete the double-double. Dykstra added six rebounds.

Mitchell Patton led the Jaguars with 17 points. Donovan Gibbs finished with 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.